As you sit in front of a woefully empty trick-or-treat bag with a pile of bereft-of-their-contents candy wrappers heaped high in front of you and a shamefully satisfied look on your face, environmental concerns about throwing those wrappers in the trash may not rank at the very top of the list of things you’re thinking about, but they probably deserve a place on there somewhere.
Most wrappers from the 600 million pounds of candy purchased in the United States each Halloween season end up in landfills, thanks to the inadequacies of curbside recycling programs, research indicates. Mars Wrigley – the giant behind candy-bag staples such as Twix, Snickers, M&M’s and Skittles – it is now offering a solution to the trash problem this Halloween.
Mars has teamed up with Rubicon Technologies, a digital waste and recycling solutions firm, to tackle wrapper waste with specially designed, recyclable trick-or-treat bags. An expansion of Rubicon’s existing Trick-or-Trash program, the collaboration is providing Halloween fans with the bags for free.
Each bag features a prepaid postage stamp and simple three-step instructions: Use it to collect your Halloween candy. Once you’ve eaten your candy (which, if you’re like us, won’t take long), put all the emptied wrappers back in the bag. Then seal the bag full of wrappers, drop it in a USPS box or at the post office, and send it off to be properly recycled for future use.
The bag features an attractive candy-covered design and is itself made from renewable, raw, recyclable bioplastic.
“Mars, and our iconic line-up of brands, put the consumer at the heart of all we do, especially during our biggest moments like Halloween,” Tim LeBel, chief Halloween officer and president of sales at Mars Wrigley, says in a press release. “This year, our Halloween leadership highlights Mars’ commitment to a healthy planet by providing a simple way to minimize packaging waste with the Mars and Rubicon Trick or Trash bags.”
Rubicon Chairman and CEO Nate Morris says his company shares with Mars a commitment to sustainable solutions. “We know that working with a variety of partners across industries is essential to keeping as much waste out of landfills as possible and we are proud to collaborate with Mars, a global leader in the Halloween season and one who demonstrates a strong commitment to protecting our environment,” Morris adds.
So how can you get your hands on one of these free recycling bags so you can anticipate feeling virtuous even as you scarf down a bazillion bite-size chocolate bars? The first drop of Trick or Trash bags made available online in early October sold out in just one day. A second drop, earlier this week, sold out in less than an hour. But fear not! A Mars Wrigley spokesperson tells Food Network the company is readying another batch of bags to drop on Thursday, October 27. Yup … sweet!
A precise time has not yet been disclosed, so definitely keep checking Halloween.Mars.com if you want to snag a free bag.